Add a Hibernate Button in XP

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Q: Is there any way to change Standby to Hibernate so you don't have to use the Shift button to change the function? I find Hibernate helpful for a quicker start up, rather than shut down completely. I do not use Standby, but Hibernate is very useful. - Brian Collison.

A: Even when the Hibernate button isn't visible in the "Turn off computer" dialog you can still press H to Hibernate. So a quick keyboard shortcut to hibernation is Windows-key, U, H. But if you want the button to appear, you can do that too.

Click Start, click Run, enter REGEDIT

Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows.

If there is no subkey named System choose Edit | New | Key from the menu and name the new key System.

Open the System subkey.

If there is no subkey named Shutdown, choose Edit | New | Key from the menu and name the new key Shutdown.

Open the Shutdown subkey.

If there is no value in the right-hand pane named ShowHibernateButton choose Edit | New | DWORD Value from the menu and name the new value ShowHibernateButton.

Double-click the ShowHibernateButton value and set its data to 1

Close REGEDIT

That will do the job. Your "Turn off computer" dialog now has buttons for Hibernate, Stand By, Turn Off, and Restart. - Neil J. Rubenking.

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
More »